TENNIS
Medvedev makes ninth final
Daniil Medvedev reached a staggering ninth final this year as he defeated fellow rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Shanghai Masters yesterday. The US Open finalist faces Alexander Zverev or Matteo Berrettini in today’s decider — they were still playing at press time last night — after beating Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.
CRICKET
India claim huge lead
India bowled out South Africa for 275, despite a battling half-century by tailender Keshav Maharaj in the second Test yesterday. Maharaj, who hit a career-best 72 with an injured shoulder, and Vernon Philander, unbeaten on 44, put on 109 for the ninth wicket to frustrate the Indian bowlers in Pune. However, their first-innings 601-5 declared mean South Africa still trail by 326 runs.
PRO WRESTLING
Fury to realize WWE dream
A “lifelong WWE fan,” former unified world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is to face Braun Strowman at a pay-per-view Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 31. WWE made the announcement at a news conference in Las Vegas on Friday. “It is something I have always dreamed of,” Fury said. “I am undefeated in 30 professional contests and when I go to Saudi Arabia to fight Braun Strowman, I will still be undefeated. I am going there to knock Braun Strowman out.” Strowman had a warning for his opponent, saying “in WWE, we don’t wear gloves, you are coming into my world.”
SOCCER
US defeat Cuba 7-0
Weston McKennie scored a hat-trick as the US opened their CONCACAF Nations League campaign in style, thrashing Cuba 7-0 on Friday. Jordan Morris added a goal and contributed on three others, Josh Sargent scored and Christian Pulisic converted a penalty for the US, who also benefited from an own-goal by Cuba. McKennie put the hosts in front less than a minute into the contest off a low cross from Morris. He added a second off an almost identical play in the fifth and after setting Morris up for the hosts’ third goal in the ninth, completed his hat-trick in the 13th minute.
SOCCER
Kane mockery prompts ban
A teenage Liverpool player was banned for two weeks on Friday for using a derogatory term on social media mocking Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane. Harvey Elliott, who is 16 and plays for England’s under-17 side, admitted to a charge of misconduct by the English Football Association for an “aggravated breach” of rules because his behavior in the video “included reference to disability.” After the Champions League final between the two teams on June 1, Elliott looked into the camera on a mobile phone and used discriminatory language about Kane in a short video that was shared widely. Elliott, who played for Fulham at the time and joined Liverpool nearly two months after the incident, made a public apology to Kane soon after the video came into the public domain. Elliott said the video was only supposed to be seen by close friends and that he had only been trying to wind up some Tottenham-supporting friends. “I would like to stress that the contents of the video do not represent who I am as a person or how I’ve been brought up,” he wrote, “and I am truly sorry.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier